By TRAVIS HAY, SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER

Published 10:00 pm, Thursday, September 16, 2004

Like its iconic music videos from the 1980s, where it transforms an average Joe into an irresistible ladies' man, ZZ Top made a transformation of sorts during its performance at the Puyallup Fair Thursday.

However, instead of transforming a person the band transformed the fair itself. Heavy rains for most of the day made for less than desirable fair-going conditions but the downpour let up shortly before ZZ Top took the stage. The band proceeded to transform a chilly night of doing the Puyallup into an evening of barnstorming rock, blues and soul.

The three beer drinkers and hell raisers -- guitarist and vocalist Billy Gibbons, bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard, or "the man without the beard" as Gibbons described him –- played a 90-minute set that spanned theband's nearly 35-year-lomg career.

The night got off to a rollicking start with "Got Me Under Pressure" from the group's 1983 breakthrough album "Eliminator." The song was followed by

"Pincushion" off of 1994's "Antenna," one of the few songs the band performed that wasn't more than 10 years old.

Dressed in matching stylish black suits, dark hats and black sunglasses, Gibbons and Hill danced in sync with one another throughout the night as if they were the Blues Brothers' bearded cousins. The two playfully danced alongside each other during "Party On the Patio" and had the audience pumping their fists in the air while they helped Gibbons sing the chorus to "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide."

Compared to its more elaborate tours in the past, the group had a minimal stage set up with the only props being sombreros on top of the four amplifiers. The lack of stage gimmicks put the focus on the music and the three musicians appeared to love every minute on stage.

When Gibbons told the crowd the band was going to perform "a little bit of new stuff, a little bit of old stuff and everything in between" before the hot rod-revving intro to "Manic Mechanic," he wasn't kidding. Although the group's newest album, "Mescalero," was released last year, only one song from the record made it into the set.

The little ol' band from Texas, which was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, played "Waitin' for the Bus" and followed it with "Jesus Left Chicago," both of which date back to 1973 album "Tres Hombres." The group also performed "La Grange" from the same album, complete with Gibbons' Southern-drawled "Ah-haw-haw-haw-haw."

The last dozen songs the band played was a string of ZZ Top's greatest hits.